Paranormals

Chapter 8: I Break The Rules, As Always

I imagine being frozen is a pleasant way to die. Yeah, it sucks at first, but after a while, the numbness forms a protective barrier between you and the outside. As my world tumbles down around me, I experience freezing firsthand. The cold takes you over, steals your breath away, and you want to fight it, want to scream and kick and fight, but then, you relax into it, and let go, and even though you're reeling from the blows, it suddenly seems like it will be alright, because nothing can be worse than that first shock.

If I'm being quite honest, that's still a shitty metaphor. But sometimes in life, there are things we experience that we don't have the words for, things that are so profoundly emotional, and personal, and filled with something that we just can't articulate. This was one of those things.

The freeze duct taped my lips, and though my voice was held hostage, my legs still worked. Somehow, I ended up in my room, on the purple duvet covering my bed. Now, face-up, staring at the ceiling, I finally begin to thaw, and as I do, I begin to process and heal.

They're stopping me from seeing him.

They're stopping me from seeing him ever. One glance, one touch, that's it. That's all I get.

I never wanted a fairytale ending. If you have a fairytale, you can never truly appreciate it. You need the lows to make the highs that much sweeter. But I still wanted something. I wanted a chance to make some perfectly imperfect, and I can't, because I'm a paranormal and he's a vampire.

Except I  can. Who did they think I was? Hell, who did I think I was? I was Casey Aguire, and I had broken a fair amount of rules in my short time on Earth. One more wasn't going to hurt. I could see him, even if it was just once, to tell him that we couldn't work.

Because the cold, painful truth was that we couldn't. As much as  I'd like to lie and say we could, we couldn't. We weren't meant to be together. To my knowledge, there never has been a paranormal and a vampire couple, and I doubted there ever would be. Paranormals and vampires just weren't compatible.

Still, I couldn't leave him hanging, and I needed my own closure. I needed to tell him this, personally, and apologize before we went our separate ways.

Where and when could I see him? And how would I arrange a meeting? My parents certainly weren't going to give him any notes from me, and even though my brothers seemed sympathetic, they weren't going to go directly against my parent's orders.

Who could contact the vampire representative on short notice?

Lombardi could.

I flipped off the bed so fast, I'm surprised I didn't hit my head and knock myself unconscious. Frantically changing out of my dirty clothes, I rush around my room grabbing makeup remover and a fresh change of clothes. The sooner I get out of my party clothes and clean myself up, the sooner I can link and convince Lombardi to help me.

After some quick work, I look decent enough to face the vampire. Reaching for my laptop, I put on some quiet classical music. I usually use it when I'm having a hard time getting to sleep. If they think I'm resting, nobody in the family will come into my room for fear of waking me up.

Satisfied with my handiwork, I link. Since I'm in a hurry, and Lombardi is already well aware of my little secret, I link directly to his office, praying he doesn't have anybody in there.

A moment later, I feel my feet touch the floor of Lombardi's giagantic work space. His office is easily the size of my living room and bedroom combined. I turn towards the desk and immediately regret my decision to link into his office.  My eyeballs are assaulted with the image of Lombardi and Camille getting their groove on. Although they haven't gotten much past second base, a shirtless Lombardi making out with his mate, complete with sound effects is far more than I want to see.